It’s that time of year again, when the windows of your local high street clothing stores, as well as your social media feed, are a winter wonderland of trashy holiday party gear.
Legions of artists, collectors, celebrities, and laypeople have descended upon Miami, Florida, for the city’s art week, and one of the buzziest exhibits happens to be one that the artist doesn’t want there.
For something that was largely considered a fad less than a decade ago, the wellness industry is continuing to balloon. According to updated numbers from the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness industry grew to be a $4.2 trillion market in 2017, up 12.8% from $3.7 trillion in 2015.
Les Misérables is getting its millionth remake of the past century, and this time—in a delightful twist—there will be no singing. BBC is set to collaborate with PBS’s Masterpiece to revisit Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel-turned-musical-turned-film, this time with a non-musical format.
The annual Victoria’s Secret runway extravaganza was broadcast on Sunday (Dec. 2) on ABC after years on CBS. The change in networks was meant to boost viewership, but it appears to have largely failed. The skin-bearing, cleavage-filled fashion show, which began in 1995, suffered its worst ratings yet, surpassing last year’s record low.
The holiday season revolves around rich meals, traditional foods and drinks, and the expectation is that we enjoy it all with some abandon. But as the media and advertising emphasize the preparation, presentation, and celebration of food, a parallel set of messages are concerned with telling us how to avoid or restrict it.
Ariana Grande knows how to make an entrance.
To top off a year of subversive memes, the internet offered us the treasure that is “He’s Not Your Man” last weekend, a bait-and-switch meme that uses absurdist humor to point out classic bad behavior in a partner, while also mocking relationship advice. It begins by poking fun at lopsided relationships by listing the common characteristics of a crappy partner: he’s ghosting you, doesn’t listen, is rude to waitstaff, etc. Then the list pivots, becoming hyperspecific to point out the behavior of an actual terrible man in history or fiction:
The long-neglected plus-size market gained yet another champion today when Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness and lifestyle company, announced a partnership (paywall) with premier size-inclusive retailer Universal Standard. Paltrow was one of the brand’s early backers, and its capsule with Goop includes five different pieces that span sizes 00 to 40.
For a campaign on behalf of beverage company Schweppes, advertising agency Ogilvy created a touch-sensitive dress that tracked how often—and with what degree of intensity—women in Brazil were groped on an average night out. The goal was to elevate the issue to men, who expressed in preliminary interviews that harassment was not a major issue for club-going women.
For centuries, candles were little more than a mold of animal fat with a cotton or reed wick. Mostly used as a source of light, they soon became staples in ceremony and celebration in various cultures. In the modern era, they trickled into the realm of home decor, and in more recent years have cemented themselves as a lifestyle object and marker of luxury living and self-care.
November 21, 2018
A well-preserved ancient fresco depicting the myth of Leda and the Swan has been uncovered in the Regio V area of the Pompeii archeological site in Italy. The fresco was found in what appears to be a bedroom, beneath a thick layer of volcanic ash.
On yesterday’s episode of The Patriot Act, comedian Hasan Minhaj’s 20-minute takedown of the streetwear giant Supreme starts out easy enough: A critique of the mind-boggling lengths people will go—the lines they’ll stand in for hours and the prices they’ll pay—to snag a piece of Supreme-stamped swag, even if it’s not clothing but a branded crowbar or brick for over $200.
Premier preppy-clothing retailer J. Crew announced on Saturday that its CEO of barely two years, Jim Brett, is stepping down and will be temporarily replaced by a committee of four senior executives. Brett’s resignation is the latest of several leadership shakeups at the company in recent years. In a statement, Brett said that despite J. Crew’s recent signs of life, “the board and I were unable to bridge our beliefs on how to continue to evolve all aspects of the company.”
The run-up to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which was released in US theaters last week, was peppered with plenty of drama—much of it juicer and perhaps less predictable than the film. From the backlash around the casting of alleged abuser Johnny Depp to accusations of type-casting Claudia Kim in the role of Nagini the snake, the team behind the film had plenty to deal with offstage.
A fancy vivid pink diamond just shy of 19 carats—formerly known as the Pink Legacy diamond—was sold to US-based Harry Winston for 50.4 million Swiss francs ($50.2 million) last night (Nov. 13) in Geneva. According to a press release from Christie’s auction house, the bidding lasted only five minutes before it was declared the most expensive pink diamond ever sold at auction, weighing in at over $2.6 million per carat.
The fitting room of a Victoria’s Secret store holds a special place in the mental landscape of the American teenage girl. There’s the mall-boudoir aesthetic (hot pink doors, brocade wallpaper, plush upholstery). There’s the smell (fruity and candy-sweet). And, for many, there’s the profound discomfort that designer Becca McCharen-Tran describes in a powerful essay for Out magazine this week:
The CEO of the lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret, Jan Singer, will leave her role at the company, owned by L Brands, after only two years, Bloomberg reports—the latest blow to a brand that has fallen far from the days when it held a near-monopoly on the bra market (pdf).
This week, a painting by the British artist David Hockney is set to displace Jeff Koons’s “Balloon Dog” as the most expensive work by a living artist to be sold at auction. ”Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” will be sold at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Nov. 15 for an estimated $80 million, overtaking Koons’ 2013 record of $58.4 million.
Big Beauty has been all about skincare lately, and that part of the industry is thriving, thanks in large part to its ballooning anti-aging category. But another category of skincare might be the next growth area: As air quality declines in cities around the world, “anti-pollution” products are making their way into the mainstream, holding new appeal for urbanites trying to protect their skin.
Hanging our necks and ears with baubles and trinkets—no matter what the price tag—can read as superficial. But the aesthetic power of jewelry, and the act of adorning our bodies, is one of the oldest and most universal traditions humans share.
A satanic temple is raising hell over Netflix’s reboot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, relaunched in late October as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. A Salem, Massachusetts-based organization called simply The Satanic Temple is suing Netflix alongside the show’s producer, Warner Bros, for copyright and trademark infringement, and is seeking at least $150 million in damages.
Victoria’s Secret’s annual televised runway extravaganza has been the company’s splashiest PR event since it began in 1995. Some watch it for the performance from a Lady Gaga- or Rihanna-level pop star. Some enjoy the spectacle of supermodel “angels,” bedecked in giant wings, feathers, jewels and tiny—tiny—intimates, strutting down the runway. And of course, some watch it for the boobs.
